David Stirling’s original idea was to parachute in close to the target, attack and then withdraw, but I don’t recall seeing it mentioned how he expected to get out.
As it happened, following the first, and last, parachute drop in which was a disastrous failure, the survivors rendezvoused with the Long Range Desert Group at a pre-arranged location, was this Stirling’s idea for getting out?
It was apparently on the drive out following this disastrous attempt that Stirling decided that driving in close using the navigational skills of the LRDG was better than parachuting in.
It was the parachute idea that caught the attention of Brigadier Dudley Clark who was looking for a parachute force to flesh out his deception plans.
If Stirling had decided that driving in rather than parachuting was the best option from the start, would he have caught Clark’s attention and without Clark’s attention would he have got anywhere at all?
The LRDG had been operating since June 1940 as a reconnaissance and raiding group, what raids had they done prior to the first successful SAS raid.